PHYS371 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Chandra Turpen PHYS371 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/09/2024	I’m honestly just bracing for the whiplash of not taking a class with Dr. Turpen next semester — this professor should teach every class in the department. She’s one of the only professors I've had who truly sees her students as human beings, not robots. Lectures are not just 50 minutes of force feeding material like other classes — she stops frequently for questions and polls the class with interactive comprehension questions to make sure that we're really understanding what's going on. Homeworks are expertly crafted to actually support our learning process and I always know that, even if I didn't understand what's happening in lecture, I'll understand it after the homework. Her exams are incredibly fair and she provides such an amazing support system with her review sessions, practice exams, homework corrections, test corrections, and TAs. She sincerely wants to see everyone succeed and, if you put in the work, you'll learn so much from her class. I hope I get to learn from her again at some point — seriously, take a class with Dr. Turpen if you can :)
Chandra Turpen PHYS371 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/11/2024	Professor Turpin is one of the few professors in the physics department who genuinely seems to care about you learning concepts. Exams were very fair- often times, other professors seem more interested in over complicating problems, or tricking you. This is absolutely not the case for her class. There is lots of TA-student interaction time outside of class (if you need it). There are weekly office hours dedicated to group solving homework problems. Just make sure you show up to class because attendance/participation is a surprisingly large percent of your grade
Chandra Turpen PHYS371 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/12/2023	Professor Turpen is one of the kindest professors I have ever encountered. She genuinely cares about learning and allows students to redo exam/homework problems for partial credit which is really helpful for not only boosting your grade, but learning material in the class. It is a tough course, but she sets up students to succeed. That being said, my only complaint is that it takes forever to get grades back in this class. I still have ungraded assignments from September which is frustrating not having a solid clear grade going into finals. Aside from that, I loved taking 371 with her and could not recommend her more. I hope I get to take another class with her!
Chandra Turpen PHYS371 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/10/2023	Dr. Turpen is simply an amazing professor. She really cared about us learning the physics while not making the class too difficult. Lectures were easy to follow and we had in-class participation quizzes that really helped to reinforce what we were learning. The homeworks were never too difficult or long, and exams were fair. If Dr. Turpen is teaching 371 for your semester, you'll be in for a treat.
Chandra Turpen PHYS371 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/29/2023	She should teach every class in the physics department. Seriously. This has been by far my favorite physics class at UMD. Dr. Turpen and her TA's are wonderful and I would highly, HIGHLY recommend taking her class.
Chandra Turpen PHYS371 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/10/2023	One of the best professors I've had at UMD. This professors research focus is physics education, and it shows in her educational ability. You can tell she very much cares about your learning, creates a really nice learning environment in class, uses clear slides and posts the weekly readings in an organized manner. Very good professor to talk to about any issues you might be having, and very helpful if you want to ask for help with anything physics related. She even takes a couple classes to focus on future career interests, and is willing to help students with that part of their college lives.
Chandra Turpen PHYS371 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/23/2023	Chandra is a fantastic professor who really prioritizes student learning. The content is difficult, but the group problem solving sessions are super helpful and she provides exam and homework corrections which make learning the material more obtainable. Although I don't love that she only uses slides for lecture, they are helpful for review. Some combination of slides and working things out on the board would be even better.
Bei Lok Hu PHYS371 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 01/11/2023	Dr. Hu is a very difficult professor. He cares deeply about his students and wants them to succeed, but his teaching skills make it difficult for most students to do that. He is very approachable and kind and was willing to give extensions/move things around if necessary. However, his lectures consist mostly of him projecting his notes onto the board and speeding through them. Many derivations are left incomplete and topics barely explained. To succeed in his class, most students had to either entirely teach themselves or have prior experience in the topics. I would highly advise avoiding him if possible.
Bei Lok Hu PHYS371 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/22/2022	Dr. Hu the GOAT! he is extremely passionate to teach physics. The exams and homework are very similar. Strongly recommend taking this course with him.
Alberto Belloni PHYS371 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/04/2022	Great professor!
Alberto Belloni PHYS371 Expecting an A- Anonymous 03/13/2022	I took PHYS371 in Fall 2021 w/ Alberto and I would say this was a great idea! His lectures are comprehensive and dives into the course material with an appropriate level of detail. This is especially important for the non-intuitive concepts introduced in Modern Physics like Special Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. If you still have lingering questions after lectures, he's also eager to meet up with you in office hours to answer those questions! Usually after lectures his slides would be available on his ELMS page. With that in mind, PHYS371 certainly isn't a simple class. The topics discussed in modern physics can be hard to grasp and may not align with what you would expect given the knowledge from classical physics. For people taking this class, I suggest you take a good amount of time to study and truly understand the concepts you're learning.
Steven Anlage PHYS371 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/13/2021	Anlage was a really great professor. The class is hard but definitely fair. His exams really test whether you understand the material or not. He did a really good job of teaching online! I was always engaged with his class and he is clearly passionate about the topics he teaches. The quizzes were hard but fair, the only downside was that most of the time it was 1 multiple choice question, so you either got a 0/10 or a 10/10, no in-between. The homework is fine if you work through it with a study group.
Steven Anlage PHYS371 Anonymous 12/18/2020	Anlage was great! Very approachable and kind guy, shared stories about his travels and his family to us but it never got in the way of course material. Had a lot of fun with the class, the only downside is that his quizzes were a bit weird and in my opinion unfair at times, but that's just how online classes are.
Manuel Franco Sevilla PHYS371 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/08/2020	Great professor, try to go to his office hours if you can
Manuel Franco Sevilla PHYS371 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/21/2020	Occasionally lectures have some clarity problems, but overall a very well-structured and well-done course. HWs are challenging but thoughtful and designed to improve students' understanding of the content. Franco Sevilla puts a lot of effort into his class and is easily accessible and receptive to questions/concerns/etc. Truly cares about physics and about his students.
Manuel Franco Sevilla PHYS371 Anonymous 01/25/2020	Literally the worst physics professor. Taking his class is like getting a root canal.

Chandra Turpen
PHYS371

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/09/2024

I’m honestly just bracing for the whiplash of not taking a class with Dr. Turpen next semester — this professor should teach every class in the department. She’s one of the only professors I've had who truly sees her students as human beings, not robots. Lectures are not just 50 minutes of force feeding material like other classes — she stops frequently for questions and polls the class with interactive comprehension questions to make sure that we're really understanding what's going on. Homeworks are expertly crafted to actually support our learning process and I always know that, even if I didn't understand what's happening in lecture, I'll understand it after the homework. Her exams are incredibly fair and she provides such an amazing support system with her review sessions, practice exams, homework corrections, test corrections, and TAs. She sincerely wants to see everyone succeed and, if you put in the work, you'll learn so much from her class. I hope I get to learn from her again at some point — seriously, take a class with Dr. Turpen if you can :)

Chandra Turpen
PHYS371

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/11/2024

Professor Turpin is one of the few professors in the physics department who genuinely seems to care about you learning concepts. Exams were very fair- often times, other professors seem more interested in over complicating problems, or tricking you. This is absolutely not the case for her class. There is lots of TA-student interaction time outside of class (if you need it). There are weekly office hours dedicated to group solving homework problems. Just make sure you show up to class because attendance/participation is a surprisingly large percent of your grade

Chandra Turpen
PHYS371

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/12/2023

Professor Turpen is one of the kindest professors I have ever encountered. She genuinely cares about learning and allows students to redo exam/homework problems for partial credit which is really helpful for not only boosting your grade, but learning material in the class. It is a tough course, but she sets up students to succeed. That being said, my only complaint is that it takes forever to get grades back in this class. I still have ungraded assignments from September which is frustrating not having a solid clear grade going into finals. Aside from that, I loved taking 371 with her and could not recommend her more. I hope I get to take another class with her!

Chandra Turpen
PHYS371

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/10/2023

Dr. Turpen is simply an amazing professor. She really cared about us learning the physics while not making the class too difficult. Lectures were easy to follow and we had in-class participation quizzes that really helped to reinforce what we were learning. The homeworks were never too difficult or long, and exams were fair. If Dr. Turpen is teaching 371 for your semester, you'll be in for a treat.

Chandra Turpen
PHYS371

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/29/2023

She should teach every class in the physics department. Seriously. This has been by far my favorite physics class at UMD. Dr. Turpen and her TA's are wonderful and I would highly, HIGHLY recommend taking her class.

Chandra Turpen
PHYS371

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
11/10/2023

One of the best professors I've had at UMD. This professors research focus is physics education, and it shows in her educational ability. You can tell she very much cares about your learning, creates a really nice learning environment in class, uses clear slides and posts the weekly readings in an organized manner. Very good professor to talk to about any issues you might be having, and very helpful if you want to ask for help with anything physics related. She even takes a couple classes to focus on future career interests, and is willing to help students with that part of their college lives.

Chandra Turpen
PHYS371

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/23/2023

Chandra is a fantastic professor who really prioritizes student learning. The content is difficult, but the group problem solving sessions are super helpful and she provides exam and homework corrections which make learning the material more obtainable. Although I don't love that she only uses slides for lecture, they are helpful for review. Some combination of slides and working things out on the board would be even better.

Bei Lok Hu
PHYS371

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
01/11/2023

Dr. Hu is a very difficult professor. He cares deeply about his students and wants them to succeed, but his teaching skills make it difficult for most students to do that. He is very approachable and kind and was willing to give extensions/move things around if necessary. However, his lectures consist mostly of him projecting his notes onto the board and speeding through them. Many derivations are left incomplete and topics barely explained. To succeed in his class, most students had to either entirely teach themselves or have prior experience in the topics. I would highly advise avoiding him if possible.

Bei Lok Hu
PHYS371

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/22/2022

Dr. Hu the GOAT! he is extremely passionate to teach physics. The exams and homework are very similar. Strongly recommend taking this course with him.

Alberto Belloni
PHYS371

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/04/2022

Great professor!

Alberto Belloni
PHYS371

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
03/13/2022

I took PHYS371 in Fall 2021 w/ Alberto and I would say this was a great idea! His lectures are comprehensive and dives into the course material with an appropriate level of detail. This is especially important for the non-intuitive concepts introduced in Modern Physics like Special Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. If you still have lingering questions after lectures, he's also eager to meet up with you in office hours to answer those questions! Usually after lectures his slides would be available on his ELMS page. With that in mind, PHYS371 certainly isn't a simple class. The topics discussed in modern physics can be hard to grasp and may not align with what you would expect given the knowledge from classical physics. For people taking this class, I suggest you take a good amount of time to study and truly understand the concepts you're learning.

Steven Anlage
PHYS371

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
01/13/2021

Anlage was a really great professor. The class is hard but definitely fair. His exams really test whether you understand the material or not. He did a really good job of teaching online! I was always engaged with his class and he is clearly passionate about the topics he teaches. The quizzes were hard but fair, the only downside was that most of the time it was 1 multiple choice question, so you either got a 0/10 or a 10/10, no in-between. The homework is fine if you work through it with a study group.

Steven Anlage
PHYS371

Anonymous
12/18/2020

Anlage was great! Very approachable and kind guy, shared stories about his travels and his family to us but it never got in the way of course material. Had a lot of fun with the class, the only downside is that his quizzes were a bit weird and in my opinion unfair at times, but that's just how online classes are.

Manuel Franco Sevilla
PHYS371

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/08/2020

Great professor, try to go to his office hours if you can

Manuel Franco Sevilla
PHYS371

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/21/2020

Occasionally lectures have some clarity problems, but overall a very well-structured and well-done course. HWs are challenging but thoughtful and designed to improve students' understanding of the content. Franco Sevilla puts a lot of effort into his class and is easily accessible and receptive to questions/concerns/etc. Truly cares about physics and about his students.

Manuel Franco Sevilla
PHYS371

Anonymous
01/25/2020

Literally the worst physics professor. Taking his class is like getting a root canal.

Reviews for PHYS371